From Long Island City to Jersey City, I was all over the place on this trip. A new city means a new opportunity to try pho. New York City is by far the worst place in the world for pho. This was my second bowl in the Garden State. I had a bowl in Hoboken which was pretty good minus the name of the restaurant and service.
The name of this place was Saigon Cafe, and is it is located walking distance to the Grove Street Station of the dreaded PATH train.
As usual, I had to start with the summer rolls. Puffy shrimp and fresh ingredients made it quite enjoyable. I did not like that the peanut sauce was served warm.
Now for the main course: The bowl came out, and it was aesthetically pleasing. The meat was the right color pink and the broth was not oily. I sampled the broth and can confidently say that New Jersey is better than New York.*
I added the extras and proceeding to savor each spoonful. Soon thereafter, the bowl was empty.
Though I enjoyed the bowl, I found the restaurant to be expensive. Lunch for two was $40. That’s too expensive for pho and to warrant a return.
*The comparison only relates to pho.
your food reviews ALWAYS make me hungry
Get pho!
You’re wrong for so many things. First of all you weren’t in Hoboken you were in Jersey City. Also thanks for the compliment to JC Saigon Cafe, I think the place is great. But the with 7,000 plus restaurants in NY you’re making a definitive decision that they have the “worst” pho when judging only two places? And last expensive to you is 40 dollars for two people at lunch who ordered apps and bowls of pho? That’s actually quite reasonable. Glad you enjoyed the food but this review is abysmal at best.
At best, you skimmed the links. I went to pho in Jersey City and Hoboken. So your lead off is wrong. And if you saw all the links, you’ll see that I’ve reviewed many in the City. Pho for lunch shouldn’t be $40 but who cares what I find expensive. Maybe you like overpaying for broth. 7000 pho restaurants in NY? Again, maybe didn’t care to read every review. Your comment is incomplete at best.